Throat platform for blast furnaces having no framework



Oct. 15, 1968 THROAT PLATFOR 5 Sheets-Sheet Filed Dec. 23, 1964 FIG. 7

Inventor: LW'J, W

F. LENGER 3,405,925

PLATFORM FOR BLAST FURNACES HAVING NO FRAMEWORK Oct. 15, 1968 THROAT 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 28, 1964 pllllll/llllllllll/ll F. LENGER Oct. 15, 1968 THROAT PLATFORM FOR BLAST FURNACES HAVING NO FRAMEWORK 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 28, 1964 FIG. 5

Int/e27 tor":

United States Patent 2 Claims. (51. 266-31) The present invention relates to a throat platform for blast furnaces having no framework.

'In the known structures of throat platforms for blast furnaces having no framework, all forces which result from the throat structure; comprising the feed hopper, the bell levers, the crane disposed above the throat and the required service platforms, as Well as all forces on'ginating from the load of the throat platform and of the shaft platforms over a plurality of brackets which are directly secured to the shaft furnace jacket, are directed into the shaft furnace jacket. Due to the large circumference of the structure above the throat, as well as of the throat platform and of the shaft platforms the mass of the forces does not work in the plane of the Shaft furnace jacket, rather about 2.5 to 3.5 m. outside of this plane, whereby appreciable connecting moments are created on the bracket connections. The comparatively thin cylindrical or conical shell of the shaft furnace jacket is strongly stressed in radial direction due to these connecting moments, which can lead to deformations or crack formations of the shaft furnace jacket at the connecting points of the brackets.

Throat platform structures have been proposed before, which were designed to avoid this drawback, in which structures stiff rings connected with the shaft furnace jacket are disposed, which assume the tensional and compressive forces originating from the moments transferred by the brackets. As long as all loads about the furnace occur in a double-symmetrical manner and the fortification rings are dimensional accordingly, the thin cylindrical or conical shell of the shaft furnace jacket is not subjected to extreme loads. However, such double-symmetrical arrangement of the load happens rarely only and even then only for the continuous loads. If, however, the cylindrical or conical shell is, upon non-symmetrical load, subjected to differential forces occurring thereby, again deformations or crack formations occur in the shaft furnace jacket. In addition appreciable heat stresses are recognizable in the fortification rings rigidly secured to the shaft furnace jacket, since the heating of the shaft furnace jacket is much greater than that of the webs or of the outside disposed flanges of the ring. Accordingly, the danger exists that the webs of the fortification rings penetrate into the shaft furnace jacket of the blast furnace and, thereby, damage the latter.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a throat platform for blast furnaces having no framework, wherein the above-stated drawbacks occuring in the known throat platform structures on blast furnaces having no framework are avoided.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a throat platform for blast furnaces having no framework, wherein the closing ring of the throat platform, as well as the pressure ring, which are both torsion-resisting rings, are equipped with connecting members which are received in pockets provided in the oppositely disposed shaft furnace jacket. By this arrangement it is brought about that the shaft furnace jacket is not subjected to any bending stresses, rather is subjected merely to slight torsion stresses due to the large diameter of the shaft furnace jacket and accordingly also deformations or crack formations of the shaft furnace jacket are avoided. Furthermore, the shaft furnace jacket can expand without any interference during heating.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of the throat platform disclosing a closing ring, a pressure ring, as well as brackets as a section along the lines 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. la is a fragmentary view of one embodiment of the connection means between the brackets and the pressure ring;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the throat platform with the closing ring;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view, at an enlarged scale, of the mounting of the closing ring at the point A of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the pressure ring;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view, at an enlarged scale, of the mounting of the pressure ring at the point B of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a section along the lines 7--7 of FIG. 6.

Referring now to the drawings, the present device comprises a throat platform 1 disposed on a shaft furnace jacket 2 including brackets 3.

A force P (FIG. 1) is effective upon the throat platform 1, which force P results from the load of the structure above the throat, the throat platform and the shaft platforms at a distance a from the vertical plane of the shaft furnace jacket 2 and is guided into the brackets 3. The brackets 3 are secured only to the vertical part of the shaft furnace jacket 2. Only the vertical reaction forces of the force F are transmitted to the shaft furnace jacket 2 by means of this connection. The moment thus acting on the connections of the brackets 3 to the shaft furnace jacket is divided into a pair of horizontal forces consisting of the forces H and H The force H is guided into the throat platform 1, formed as a ring carrier with a closing ring 5, and the force H is guided into the pressure ring 4 suspended from the brackets 3. The closing ring 5 of the throat platform 1 and the pressure ring 4 are, thereby, connected, for instance, by means of longitudinal slot connections 2 with the brackets 3 (see FIG. la).

In order to avoid that the radial forces R to R originating from the forces H and H become effective upon the shaft furnace jacket 2, these radial forces are transformed at least partly in the manner described hereinafter into forces T to T effective tangentially upon the shaft furnace jacket 2 (see FIGS. 2 and 5) and in particular to such extent that, for instance, deformations and crack formations cannot occur at the connecting points of the brackets 3 to the shaft furnace jacket 2. FIG. 2 also shows four oblong openings for the gas exhaust tubes of the blast furnace. Since the transmittal of the tangentially operating forces T to T upon the shaft furnace jacket 2 does not occur in the same plane, in which the radial forces R to R are effective into the throat platform 1 and into the pressure ring 4, respectively, thus creating a torsion effect, this pressure ring 4 is designed as a torsionresistant ring carrier, while the throat platform 1 is equipped with a torsion-resistant closing ring 5. For the transformation of the radial forces R to R into forces T to T effective tangentially upon the shaft furnace jacket 2 and, thereby, for the mounting of the throat platform 1 and of the pressure ring 4, connecting members 6 are provided for the mounting of the throat platform 1 and of the pressure ring 4 on the closing ring 5 of the throat platform 1 and on the pressure ring 4, which connecting members 6 are received in pockets 7 provided in the op positely disposed shaft furnace jacket 2 (see FIGS. 3 and 6).

Intermediate spaces 8 are provided between the connecting members 6 of the closing ring 5 of the throat platform 1 and of the pressure ring 4 and the pockets 7 of the shaft furnace jacket 2, which intermediate spaces 8 extend in radial direction. Since the throat platform 1 with the closing ring 5, as well as the pressure ring 4, have the tendency to yield under the effect of, as a rule, non-symmetrically occuring radial forces, which is only possible in form of a rotary movement about the furnace axis, the side faces 9 of the connecting members 6 engage the side faces 10 of the pockets 7. Due to this occurrence, the originally radially effective forces R to R are transformed into tangential forces T to T which are not dangerous for the shaft furnace jacket 2 and in addition the heat expansion of the shaft furnace jacket 2 is made easier.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invent-ion, it is to be understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. A throat platform structure for blast furnaces having no framework, comprising a shaft furnace jacket, a 2

throat platform disposed on top of said shaft furnace jacket, and brackets secured to said shaft furnace jacket, a closing ring disposed above said brackets and a pressure ring disposed below said brackets, said closing ring and said pressure ring being movably secured to said shaft furnace jacket and comprising torsion-resisting rings, connecting members secured to said closing ring and to said pressure ring, and said shaft furnace jacket having pockets disposed opposite to and receiving said connecting members, so that said rings, disposed above and below said brackets and receivinghorizontal forces originating from the connecting moments of said brackets, are connected with said shaft furnace jacket such that the forces effective upon said rings are fed at least partly'tan'gentially to said shaft furnace jacket.

2. The throat platform, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said connecting members of said closing ring and of said pressure ring define intermediate radially directed spaces in said pockets of said shaft furnace jacket.

References Cited UNITED STPIII'ZZS PATENTS 1,792,614 2/ 1931 Stem 263-29 2,355,947 8/ 1944 Bowdy et a1 52-249 2,903,876 9/ 1959 Nannim' 52249 3,212,466 10/1965 Wintersteen 52-573 X 1,783,416 12/1930 Dovel 266-27 2,021,555 11/ 1935 Juengling 26'631 2,507,257 5/ 1950 Kinney et a1 266-31 J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER,,Primary Examiner.

E. MAR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A THROAT PLATFORM STRUCTURE FOR BLAST FURNACES HAVING NO FRAMEWORK, COMPRISING A SHAFT FURNACE JACKET, A THROAT PLATFORM DISPOSED ON TOP OF SAID SHAFT FURNACE JACKET, AND BRACKETS SECURED TO SAID SHAFT FURNACE JACKET, A CLOSING RING DISPOSED ABOVE SAID BRACKETS AND A PRESSURE RING DISPOSED BELOW SAID BRACKETS, SAID CLOSING RING AND SAID PRESSURE RING BEING MOVABLY SECURED TO SAID SHAFT FURNACE JACKET AND COMPRISING TORSION RESISTING RINGS, CONNECTING MEMBERS SECURED TO SAID CLOSING RING AND TO SAID PRESSURE RING, AND SAID SHAFT FURNACE JACKET HAVING POCKETS DISPOSED OPPOSITE TO AND RECEIVING SAID CONNECTING MEMBERS, SO THAT SAID RINGS, DISPOSED ABOVE AND BELOW SAID BRACKETS AND RECEIVING HORIZONTAL FORCES ORIGINATING FROM THE CONNECTING MOMENTS OF SAID BRACKETS, ARE CONNECTED WITH SAID SHAFT FURNACE JACKET SUCH THAT THE FORCES EFFECTIVE UPON SAID RINGS ARE FED AT LEAST PARTLY TANGENTIALLY TO SAID SHAFT FURNACE JACKET. 